No Coincidences
by carryyourdreams
Summary: Hermione's all grown up, but alone. Her friends con her into going on a longtimecoming vacation where she runs into someone who will change her life for good.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This might just be my first fan fiction. I think I've tried to write them before, but have experienced feelings of insufficiency. Now, hopefully I can find the confidence to write one. I guess I wanted to because a lot of fan fic's I read, which are wonderful nonetheless, take characters too far out of themselves without much good explanation of how they got that way. JK Rowling made these people and I think that sometimes it is disgrace to these characters to change who they are. So here I go. This is a Hermione/Draco story, as I have always loved those ones.**

CHAPTER 1

Hermione was successful, to say the least. She was the head of the Department of Muggle Relations at the Ministry of Magic under Minister Rufus Scrimgeour. She made a really strong impression towards the minister by her help with finally ridding the wizarding world of Voldemort when she was seventeen. Being 23 now, her, Harry, and Ron were all still the greatest of friends, and all of them had grown up, Ron to much surprise for everyone. Harry and Ginny had married straight away after they had both finished Hogwarts, and every girl in the Wizarding World wept. They lived together in his parents' house in Godric's Hollow, after some intense rebuilding and spellcasting had been done. Hermione and Ron had something for a while, but it fizzled, and both agreed to end it. Since then Hermione had dated a couple of people including Neville Longbottom. After that ended she dated a guy named Leo Stratton from her department, but that wasn't working out so Hermione ended it before it could become awkward at work. Since then, she had been riding the single train, and happily working and hanging out with her friends. Even though she was a girl, sometimes she thought that relationships were just too much work. 'When the right guy comes around, it won't be this hard' she thought.

Thus, the story begins.

It was November, a particularly slow time in Hermione's department. She sat at work trying her hardest to find even the tiniest task to complete. "Gah!" she said to herself, "There is absolutely nothing to do."

"Then why don't you take the rest of the day off?" asked Harry, who had just walked in, his voice causing Hermione to spill her pen cup in surprise.

"Take the rest of the day off?" she repeated. "I haven't taken any days off that were not weekends since I started this job, and I don't plan on starting now. Got that?"

Harry shook his head and said, "Have it your way, Granger" as he turned and walked out of the office. Hermione paused her search for something to do and stared at the closed door. Try as she might, she could not stop the tears from coming. Soon enough, silent streams of tear drops were falling down her face. 'I don't do anything besides work. My friends are starting to notice that I don't even hang out that much anymore, I'm sure of it. I need to take some time off.' With a new resolve, she wiped away her tears and began drafting a notice to the minister requesting some time off. About halfway through, she said, "Who am I kidding? This place would fall apart if I wasn't here. No one knows how to properly handle all of the files and everyone writes the most silly reports ever. Ron wrote better papers at Hogwarts. I can't leave." And with that, she crunched the paper into a ball with one hand and threw it towards the garbage can. Of course, it missed, but Hermione knew she was not very coordinated when it came to things remotely athletic.

A few hours later, Hermione was packing up her purse, and getting ready to take the floo home, when Ron and Harry came up beside her and grabbed her arms. "Guys! What are you doing? Put me down or there will be serious consequences!"

"Hush with your consequences, Hermione, we know you'd never do anything to hurt us," Ron said with a smile. "This is an intervention. Don't say another word or we'll have to bind you and take your wand."

Hermione furrowed her brow and kept quiet. 'These two are going to get it for sure,' she thought as they led her to the minister's office. As they approached the door, she saw Neville and Ginny waiting there. She got even more furious at that time and finally spoke up. "This is outrageous! What is this about?" Ginny, the ever calm, and the only one who was ever able to bring Hermione down from a mood, walked up and placed her hands on Hermione's cheeks.

"Hermione, this is not good. You need a vacation, time away, to learn more about yourself and figure out who you are. You can not continue locking yourself in your office all the time, hardly having any time for yourself, and having even less time for us."

"We're your friends, Hermione, and we're begging you," added Neville. Harry and Ron nodded in sync.

"I don't need to take time off, I am just fine," replied Hermione, as she started to walk away.

"We didn't want to have to do this, but I guess there's no way we can convince you on your own. Ginny, is it ready?" asked Harry.

"Yes, dear, it is. All we need is the final ingredient. Hermione, I'm really sorry about this, but it's for your own good," Ginny assured Hermione as she reached out and plucked a long wavy hair from Hermione's head. She pulled out a flask, dropped the hair in, and drank it.

After nearly throwing up, standing in front of Hermione was…Hermione. Ginny had taken a polyjuice potion. "Don't try and stop me, Hermione," she saw herself say with Ginny's voice. "This really is for you own good."

"You can't get away it," Hermione wagered. "I can walk in there right now and he'll know when you come in that you're not me."

"That's the other part," Ron said, speaking for the first time this whole conversation. "You're coming with me." He took her arm again and with a swift flick of his wand and the incantation _Silencio!_, he dragged Hermione away from her "friends" standing outside the minister's door.

Hours later, after getting back to the Burrow, which was basically so that Hermione wouldn't kill Ron, since his parents were around, Hermione finally came to her senses. "Fine, I'll go."

"Wonderful!" Ginny exclaimed. "I am so sorry we had to do this to you, Hermione, but you'll thank us later. We already have the ticket for you. It's a cruise 'round the pacific. You'll stop many places and meet so many people. You'll have a great time. I'm sure of it."

"Ok, Ginny, and if I don't, I am going to come back here and hex all of you into next June. Got it? When do I leave?" Hermione asked.

"Now," said Harry. "We packed your things and they're here. We did not want you walking out of here then deciding not to go. I'll be apparating with you to the train, where I will wait until you've gotten on. You ready for this?"

"Not quite, but ok. Let's go."

Hermione remembered that day and couldn't wait to get back to her friends to thank them. She had had the most wonder ful two weeks of her life, tanning and swimming. It was a completely muggle cruise, and she'd only used magic a couple of times in the privacy of her room. For example, tonight. It was to be a wonderful night of dancing and fun. The cruise was throwing a party, a masque ball, and Hermione couldn't have been more thrilled.

The only problem was…. "I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO WEAR!!!!!" and she quickly came up with a plan. She took a pair old old jeans she'd basically ruined on the sand and transfigured them into a dress. It was short, black, and accentuated her curves but still left some things a mystery. It was a one strapped dress, and the black really made her tan look fantastic. She then took a bracelet she'd brought but hadn't worn and transfigured it into a mask. It was simple, just a black mask that covered the top half of her face and the bridge of her nose. She straightened her hair with a spell, and let it flow. Straightened it was basically to the middle of her back.

Standing in the mirror, she knew she was ready to have a great night, and she walked out of her state room.

The party was fantasticly decorated. Streamers everywhere and the people were all so beautiful. She headed over to the bar, and was handed an Amaretto Sour, an American drink that she'd grown quite fond of on this trip, and she started to walk the floor. She ended up at the bow of the ship, gazing out at the night sky, but she wasn't alone.

"Hello there," a stranger in a dark suit and mask said, as he walked up to stand next to her, the moonlight reflecting off of his blonde locks.

**A/N: Well, let me know what you think. I know it's more of a history of what's going on, but sometimes those are essential. Like I said at the beginning, it's my first fan fic that I've not deleted before ever putting it up.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the review! I noticed that I got a lot of story alerts, so I decided to put up the next chapter. I really appreciate the votes of confidence.**

**Disclaimer: While I do harbor some decent intelligence, I could not, in my dizziest daydreams be creative enough to come up with anything from the Harry Potter books. Therefore, JKR is my role model. And Harry Potter belongs to her.**

CHAPTER 2

Hermione turned slowly, recognizing the voice that had taunted her for years. 'If he doesn't recognize me, I'm not going to tell him, I don't need this. Not on my last night of vacation,' she thought as she brought herself around to stare him in the face.

He'd grown, obviously. A head taller than she was, built with muscle, and his eyes shimmering beneath the mask that he wore, his smile making her knees quiver. 'All grown up, huh…' she processed mentally. She realized she was staring and tried her hardest to put on a different voice.

"Hello," she said. "Nice night, huh?" His eyes showed that he was trying to figure out why she seemed familiar.

"Yea, it is a nice night, and the last night before the ship docks tomorrow. Any special plans with any special people?" he asked, laying it on with a sweet-as-honey voice. Strangely, Hermione found herself attracted to the man who, when a boy, made her life very difficult. Finally noticing that he was asking her a question and she should respond, she said,

"Not really. I came on this cruise by myself. My friends forced me, basically. But, I'll have to remember to thank them. It's been a great trip."

"Yea, I'll have to remember to thank them, too. You're beautiful. I honestly can't believe that I didn't see you until tonight," Draco said, and Hermione had to stifle a laugh. 'Beautiful? He definitely does not know that it's me he's talking to.' "Would you like another drink?" he asked, recapturing Hermione's attention.

"Um, sure. I'll have an Amaretto Sour. It's American." He nodded, and turned around heading back towards the bar. 'Ok. Ok. Think, Hermione, think. Breathe, too. Just go with the flow. It'll be ok. Ok.'

She had just finished her little inward pep talk when Draco walked up with two Amaretto Sour's in tow.

"It sounded interesting, so I got myself one, too. If it isn't good I'll have you to blame, though, I usually don't stray from beer," he said handing her the drink. "So, where are you from?"

"London. I've always lived somewhere near London. I guess I can't get enough of her," Hermione answered, hoping that the conversation did not force her to reveal herself as a witch. No luck, though.

"I live near London, too. Did you go to school there? Which one?" he asked when he saw her nod. 'Oh no…'

"Um, a smaller private school out in the country. Not too many people know about it," she replied, and waited for the onslaught.

"Same for me, except, my school was kind of a special school. Can you keep a secret?" he asked, his eyes glimmering like a school boy. She nodded. "I am a wizard. The school I went to was a school for witches and wizards. " Hermione stood there, flabbergasted. How could he just tell someone he hadn't known for more than 20 minutes about the wizarding world? Her anger took the best of her.

"That's quite dangerous, you know. I could have been some ordinary muggle, or even worse, some spy. You should exercise more caution with who you tell that secret to." Hermione was on her soap box, ready to give him a lesson he'd never forget when he started laughing hysterically. "What?"

"You must have gone to Hogwarts then, and since you don't look too much different in age than me, you must have known Hermione Granger, right?" she nodded, wanting to see where he was going with this. "You really sounded like her just then. That was totally something she would have done." He chuckled a little bit more, then regained his composure. "Well, anyway, now that the secret's out, would you like to dance?" he asked, holding his hand towards her. Literally shocked, Hermione took only a second to place her hand on his and walk towards the group of people dancing.

They danced, and they danced, not really talking about anything, but Hermione's mind was racing. 'I need to get out of here. There's no way that he won't recognize me tomorrow when the mask is gone. I'm going to have to apparate home tonight. Yes, that's it…just after this one last dance.' Her mind made up, she found herself actually enjoying her time with Malfoy.

One last dance turned into one more dance, which turned into 'I'll just leave tomorrow morning'. By 1:00 AM, Hermione knew she was in trouble.

'I'm starting to like him. I know I'm attracted to him, but liking him? He's Malfoy….but he has changed, I think. Oh no, I am defending him. I do like him. I need to get out of here.' At that time Hermione let go of his hands and stood back, saying "I'm sorry, but I need to be going. It was nice meeting you, goodbye!" as she turned and ran back to her stateroom.

Not sure if he was going to follow her, with a flick of a wand she was packed, and after stowing her wand safely, she thought of her living room and apparated home.

* * *

'Who the hell was that?' Malfoy questioned, watching the brown-haired beauty he'd spent the last few hours with run as fast as she could in the opposite direction. 'She was amazing.'

He shook his head at his loss, hoping that someday, since they both lived in London, he would run into her again. Walking back to his stateroom, he couldn't shake her from his mind. There was something so familiar about her and he couldn't put his finger on it. 'It must just be that she went to Hogwarts. I have to have seen her before. ' He left it at that, getting into his stateroom and prepping himself for bed.

Laying there, though, she came back. Long brown hair, with those amazing eyes, and that smile! It was too much for one guy to take. 'I wonder why a witch decided to come on a completely muggle cruise, but then again, she could be wondering the same thing about me.' After spending the majority of the night thinking about her, not sleeping, he finally fell asleep with a new resolve. He spoke it aloud, maybe to make it seem more real, saying,

"I am going to find her. And I am going to marry her."

* * *

**A/N: Short chapter, sorry. I like to leave things with people wondering, and this seemed like a good place. Plus, I have a final in half an hour that I need to do some last minute preparing for. Hope you liked it, let me know**! 


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